He said what? (ECOMP 6008)

Well folks, this blog entry is just about the final thing I need to do for ECOMP 6008.  (When I am done here I need to email my website to the professor – http://www.lesley.edu/faculty/mwoolums/students/mw080205/index.html if you’re curious)  In reflecting upon all of the hard work I have put in this semester, I take heart in the fact that many of the things I had to do will be useful in my teaching career.  My only previous experience with integrating technology was havng the kids do a PowerPoint or watching a DVD.  Things like Webquests, learning how to improve the relevance of results of using search engines, and evaluating websites will probably be the first things implemented by me.  Technology is here to stay.  While some teachers try to avoid it at all costs, I think the culture in schools is changing to be more accepting of it.  The students are eager to expand their learning and that is what technology allows them to do.  I hope to help them see how to use what is available to them wisely, with a purpose.  The tools gained from taking this course will hopefully allow me to do so.

To my classmates: CONGRATULATIONS!

To my professor: THANK YOU!

The last unit of the semester is upon us and although I feel like giving up I will see it through to the end.  Acknowledging my courses are almost over coincides with the realization that work is right around the corner… I went to school today for the first time since I left it back in June.  It was depressing and exciting all at once.  I am glad to be going back but feel like the summer went by in the blink of an eye. (Ok no more rhyming.)

It has been a summer filled with travel and things to do – 4 weddings in July, 2 in PA, 1 in NH, 1 in MA, trip to Nantucket, Niagara Falls, the Police (in concert), Dave Matthews, of course my two courses at Lesley U, and many other things

The last week in NY was rain, rain, rain but I still managed to sneak a round of golf in each day.  Back in NH things have finally settled down. 

This weekend will hopefully mark the end of the work I have to do for my courses.  I need to focus on getting back into teaching mode and I don’t want any loose ends.  I will start with the links, then finish up the text and reflections, then finish my webpage:

(http://www.lesley.edu/faculty/mwoolums/students/mw080205/index.html)

One thing that I will take away from this class and try to pass on to my students is awareness of what is on the internet.  There is so much information available and until now my only advice was to verify information using at least 3 sources and stay away from sites with a ~.  With what I learned in the evaluating websites activity and November text I should be able to offer more than that. 

Anyways I wish you all a wonderful weekend.  See you later!

I just finished the html and ftp assignments for Module 5 and I think it came out alright.  I feel really good about that, but I wish it hadn’t taken up all of my day.  “Lucky” for me its been raining off and on anyways.  I am home for the weekend as I said and tonight I get to go to the rehearsal dinner for the wedding I am going to tomorrow.  Hey a good, free meal is nothing to complain about   Anyways, I got the wonderful news that the next assignment for my other course is an APA research paper!  I am actually not that upset about it as I learned a great deal about how to put one together in my 6008 course.  My goal is to read the assigned article on the car ride to the dinner tonight and then post my reflection tomorrow morning…we’ll see how that goes. 

On a side note, my summer travels have introduced me to a lot of new people.  One of them was really interesting and as an added bonus related to what I teach!  I met Flavia Pansieri.  Never heard of her?  Neither had I, but she works for the United Nations as the UNV Executive Coordinator.  This is the volunteer body of the UN.  She is from Yemen and married into my girlfriend’s extended family.  Flavia is very nice and graciously spent over an hour with me discussing her work and all the parts of the world she has visited during her time with the UN.  Needless to say I look forward to sharing this experience with my students. 

Whew!  I am surprised I am still awake.  As I said the other day I went to the drive in, only it was delayed a day.  I went last night and it turned out to be a triple-feature!  In addition to The Dark Night and Hancock I was treated to Journey to the Center of the Earth.  I made it through pretty much all of them except for about 20 minutes of Journey and Hancock.  Anyways…

Finding time to get all my coursework done continues to be a challenge as it is for many of my classmates I’m sure.  Unfortunately I think it is my girlfriend who is taking it the worst.  She thinks I spend to much time worrying about when I’ll get my work done and not enough about enjoying my time at the lake, weddings, with her, etc.  I think she’s probably right.  But as they say, I guess that’s the price you pay for (fill in whatever you want).

Module 5, Part 1 was really cool.  I knew there were online assignments to do out there, but had no idea as to the amount of them.  There are so many things to do for so many subjects!  It is incredible and I will definitely use them in the future in my classroom.

I am proud of myself for sitting down and getting part 1 of Module 5 done after a 6+ hour drive from NY to NH.  Hopefully I can continue working tomorrow morning.  (Ugh.)

Honestly, I have learned a lot in my two course, but I am ready for them to be over.  Volleyball starts next week and I haven’t even thought about my classes (that I am teaching) yet!  Anyways, its past my bedtime, good night!

I am back in NY from the third of a four wedding in five weekend blitz and am very tired today.  I have finished all the assignments for Module 4 except the wiki challenge.  I hope to take care of that in the next hour or two (perhaps wishful thinking).  The week was good.  I got to see a lot of friends that I haven’t seen in some time as we celebrated a wedding for one of them as I said earlier.  I am proud that I was able to drag myself to the library during the first nice day at the lake in about a week.  My goal for today is to finish up the remaining work for my two courses, as always, so that I can go back and have a relaxing afternoon.  The plan for tonight is the drive-in to see Hancock and The Dark Night, so I better get busy…..

I just got out of Church and I am feeling pretty motivated.  I am not an overly religious person, but I attend Catholic services every week usually.  It helps me clear my head and most of the time gives me something to think about.

The week was pretty good, although my NY vacation was interrupted by a friend’s wedding last weekend and my girlfriend had a bachelorette party to attend this weekend so we spent it locally, sort of.  We spent the first part of the week in Nantucket which is probably the most expensive place I have ever been, just above Palm Springs and Myrtle Beach.  Of course it could just be the fact that few places including the inn we stayed at accepted credit cards!  A virtually cash-only island…how annoying.  Who carries cash anymore?  We finished the week with a trip to visit friends in Maine which was also very nice.

I spent most of the weekend catching up on school work and will hopefully finish the first part of Mod 4 this morning.  I have had trouble staying focused lately, so I will take advantage of my current motivation.

Pulling myself away from all the distractions of the summer has and will continue to be a challenge for me.  However, as I have said in the past, no one forced me to take these classes and I must complete the work on time.  I am working on not over thinking every assignment but that too has been a challenge.

I am concerned about the group projects required in both of my classes.  I signed on to take online courses knowing that my time would be limited to whatever hours I could sneak away to the library on a given day.  That is fine when working alone on a project, but having others need relatively consistent communication from me is difficult to accommodate.  Others have the same problem as I found out with the chat assignment of a previous module.

When I started the classes I wasn’t sure if I’d be up to the task, but here we are, passing the half way mark and I think I am holding my own, but I guess only my professors know for sure how I am doing.  This week I hope to get all my work done before MyLesley goes down at the end of the week, which, due to a wedding in Pittsburgh, PA would have had to have happened anyways.

Hope everyone is having a good summer and I’ll talk to you later…

I stared at my printouts, computer screen, coffee table for about an hour then decided to move on to adding my delicious bookmarks and writing this journal because I clearly wasn’t getting anywhere with the paper part of Module 3.  I am unfamiliar with APA format to begin with and even picking a topic was a bit of a challenge for me.  I am just not sure what I want to research.  The papers I assign in high school and those I did in college were all in MLA format.  I had a wonderful week in NY, escaping pretty much everything except for the day I traveled to the library to post the earlier assignments for my tech classes.  My goal for today was to finish Module 3 and then enjoy the rest of my weekend.  Now my goal might be to simply settle on a topic.  I am sure I will be able to work it out but all that relaxation is making it very tough to sit down and dig in as I am accustomed to doing.  My intention is to finish this today.  Oh well, I am going to get back to the paper.  Hope it is smoother sailing for my classmates.

Hi All,

I have been working hard all day on module 3.  I am going away for a week and may not have internet access.  It has been challenging but I have learned a lot.  I had no idea the amount of search enginess that are available.  I knew the basics – google, yahoo, dogpile, etc. but some of the other ones out there are so different and so cool! 

My goal is to at least finish looking at the search engines and get down some basic ideas about the use of them.  I can fine tune my note later on.  This week officially starts “vacation”.  I am going to Yankee Stadium for a day to see the Red Sox play the Yankees.  Then I go to a lake house that has no tv or internet.  I will be there most of the summer with 4 wedding interruptions.  I have yet to find a place around the lake with internet access, but worse comes to worst I can use my new LG Voyager cell phone to get online.  Wish me luck!

This was a great week that wrapped up with my birthday Friday and my little sister getting engaged!  I worked hard to get the first part of Module 2 done before going on a little 2 day vacation to Lake Winnipesaukee.  I also finished the Reading reflection and have been trying for a couple days now to hook up with my partner to get the chat done.  This has been a little more difficult than I anticipated.  I want to get this done so I can focus on my weekend with my family.  Not being able to communicate effectively with my partner to get this done has me a little frustrated.  However out of this experience I have gained a little perspective on what my students go through when asked to work on assignments with a partner outside of the classroom.  Maybe they are not just blowing smoke when they say they can’t get together to get it done.  Maybe with all the sports, work, family commitments, etc, carving out time in each other’s schedules to get together and get it done can be challenging.  Sure they have fewer limitation than my partner and I, but still it gives me something to think about.

I’m feeling pretty good right now.  I just got back from a birthday dinner for me and my dad (his is tomorrow, mine is next Friday).  We went to my favorite Italian restaurant, Trattoria Amalfi.  This week was hectic as it was the last of school.  I hurriedly finished grading all my finals and entering report card grades to get out of there.  This spring was packed for me.  I coached softball, helped the Senior Class organize prom and graduation in addition to starting my Master’s Degree Program and, you know, actually teaching.  Did I mention I have a new girlfriend as of November?  We are still in that “want to spend every second I have with you” phase which I really love but it makes for a jam-packed schedule!

Module Two has been challenging.  The great feeling of accomplishment having gotten through another year and having a successful graduation and season (even though we lost in the Championship game), has me feeling a bit lazy.  After about 20 tries, I managed to finish the Exploring Blogs and RSS portions of Part One as of this morning.  Now fresh off of a great dinner with the ‘rents I am going to tackle del.icio.us.  I would say the meal was delicious but I am sure that joke has only been made about a thousand times.

The bottom line is I enrolled at Lesley to further my career and improve my teaching repertoire.  I can take time to enjoy this summer and school being over but the work has to get done and I refuse to give less than my best effort.  So since I am feeling particularly motivated right now I am going to get to it.

Bye for now.